Luta Livre
' Luta Livre' is the Portuguese Language term for Wrestling. In Brazil, it may also refer to Luta Livre Esportiva wich is a variation of Wrestling that comprises mostly of Submissions & Takedowns. The name "Lucha Libre" roughly translates to "Freestyle Fighting" and the words "Luta" and "Livre" literally translate as "Fight" and "Free" respectively. History Luta Livre is a Grappling system that evolved from the original version of Catch Wrestling that arrived to Brazil in the early 1900's but developed on its own alongside Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. In 1928, at fourteen years of age, Euclydes "Tatu" Hatem was a invited to join the world of wrestling and joined the ACM Club of Rio de Janeiro, where he began to train and dedicate his life to the sport he would eventually go on to evolve into Luta Livre. Luta Livre truly burst into Brazilian social consciousness when the first of the major Brazilian Jiu Jitsu vs. Luta Livre encounters happened in the 1940's, with Hatem defeating George Gracie. Later in the 1970's, the art was influenced by Tatu's students Fausto and Carlos Brunocilla, who graduated several experts. The art was also positively impacted later by Roberto Leitao, a Wrestler and Judoka who was also a University professor of Engineering and applied his knowledge in the filed to use technique over raw force- similar to Helio Gracie- due to the fact that he was a smaller man wich helped to refine several techniques of the art. Though Leitao certainly used leverage to his benefit, his words to Fight! Magazine note a major difference between the philosophies of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Luta Livre, with Luta Livre following an ideology more akin to what Catch Wrestling or Shoot Fighting do by mixing leverage with power because he believed neither was sufficient alone. Luta Livre evolved from generation to generation and was brought to Germany in 1995 by Professor Daniel D’ Dane who taught Luta Livre to a handful of people in Colonge, Germany where he became a mentor to his star pupil Andreas Schmidt. Andreas Schmidt called the “Andyconda” decided to take what he had learned to the next level and traveled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil so he could study the art in the place of its origin and in 2001 was awarded his Black Belt. Schmidt returned to Germany to create and organize the European Luta Livre Organization or ELLO and began designing a structured Luta Livre curriculum. His degree in Sports Science helped him to structure the specific teaching methods and programs that make the techniques easy to learn and master. Because of the growing interest in the Andyconda Luta Livre, Andreas decided in 2007 to expand outside of Europe and formed the International Luta Livre Organization or ILLO and as the ILLO head coach, he travels all over the world to teach and instruct his Luta Livre. As of 2012 Luta Livre is practiced in over 15 different countries worldwide including Brazil, Peru, America, Germany, Brittain, France, Portugal, Austria, Holland, Spain, Slovakia, Serbia, Greece, Isreal & Turey. Comparison with other styles Luta Livre strategy is simmilar to Catch Wrestling in that both are top orieted and use a lot of leg locks but Luta Livre, unlike Catch Wrestling didn't keep the pin as a way to win a match, and so certain techniques and strategies for getting a tilt or turnover to put someone on their back were dropped, and fighting from all areas on the ground was focused on as it was with BJJ but wthout the use of a Gi. Styles Luta Livre Esportiva - A system of No Gi grappling that focuses on Takedowns & Submissions. Luta Livre Vale Tudo - A sub-system of Luta Livre which incorporates strikes from Boxing, Muay Thai & Capoeira into the repoirtoire for Vale Tudo contests (No Rules) & Self-Defense. T36 - T36 means 36 Techniques and includes the 36 most effective Luta Livre skills for ending a real combat situation by effective chokes or locks on the opponents joints. Category:Fighting style